Clauses/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim and Moby are sitting in class. The teacher is droning on. Tim's stomach growls, and Moby makes a "shhhh" gesture with a finger over his mouth. MOBY: Beep. TIM: What do you know about being hungry? Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, could you please explain what clauses are, with some examples? Thank you, Ramya. Sure thing. Every sentence is made up of one or more clauses. That's any description of someone or something performing an action. Every clause contains a subject and a predicate. A graphic of a circle and an arrow appear. The arrow extends from the edge of the circle, pointing to the right. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Oh. The subject is whatever is performing the action. The circle is labeled "subject." TIM: Like in the sentence "Tim eats a tasty lunch," Tim is the one doing the eating, so he's the subject of the sentence. An image shows Tim eating a slice of pizza. An arrow points to him. TIM: The predicate is the verb and any supporting words that describe the action. The "circle and arrow" graphic reappear. The circle is still labeled "subject," and the arrow extending to the right is now labeled "predicate." TIM: So, in the same sentence, "eats" is the verb, and "eats a tasty lunch" is the predicate. The image of Tim eating the slice of pizza reappears. The sentence "Tim eats a tasty lunch." appears above him. The word "Tim" is labeled as the subject, the word "eats" is labeled as the verb, and the words "eats a tasty lunch" are labeled as the predicate. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right. "Tim eats a tasty lunch" is both a clause and a complete sentence. To be complete, a sentence has to contain at least one independent clause. That's any clause that can stand on its own as a complete thought. "Moby is a robot" and "He never has to eat" are both independent clauses, because they can stand alone as sentences. An image shows Moby turning down a slice of pizza. TIM: They're also called simple sentences, since they're made up of a single clause. Simple sentences are useful for describing all sorts of situations, but can you imagine a story that used only short, simple sentences? These sentences are handwritten on notebook paper: "Tim was eating lunch. Moby didn't want any. Moby is a robot. He never has to eat. He sat with Tim. He watched him eat lunch." MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, it'd make sense, but just try reading it out loud. Tim was eating lunch. Moby didn't want any. Moby is a robot. He never has to eat. He sat with Tim. He watched him eat lunch. Moby cringes and holds his ears. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Doesn't flow very well, does it? Moby shakes his head. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Using just one type of clause over and over is bound to put your readers or listeners to sleep. Combinations of different clauses make sentences a lot more compelling. "Because Moby is a robot" is a dependent, or subordinate, clause, because it can't stand alone as a sentence. The image reappears of Moby turning down the slice of pizza. Text appears to illustrate Tim's explanation. TIM: It has a subject, "Moby," and a predicate, "is a robot," but it's not a sentence. Just listen to it out loud. "Because Moby is a robot." Moby throws up his arms. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right? It sounds like I'm about to say more because it's not a complete thought. Dependent clauses are sometimes called fragments, since they're not full sentences. To make it into one, we need to join it with an independent clause. The clauses "Because Moby is a robot" and "He never has to eat." are joined together to form the sentence, "Because Moby is a robot, he never has to eat." TIM: A complex sentence joins one or more dependent clauses to an independent clause. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, I'm not saying they're better than simple sentences. But a mix of simple and complex sentences generally makes for more interesting writing or speech. These sentences are handwritten on notebook paper: Tim was eating lunch. Moby didn't want any. Because Moby is a robot, he never has to eat. But he sat with Tim and watched him eat lunch. TIM: If you know your clauses, you can use them as building blocks for all kinds of different sentences. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, for example, you can link up independent clauses with a semicolon. The text shows how "Moby is a robot." and "He never has to eat." combine to form "Moby is a robot; he never has to eat." An arrow points to the semicolon in the revised sentence. TIM: Or you can use coordinating conjunctions to join the two clauses. Those are linking words like "and," "but," "so," or "yet." The text shows the sentence, "Moby is a robot, so he never has to eat." MOBY: Beep. TIM: Subordinate clauses can't form a complete sentence on their own, no matter how many you string together. That's because they can only do the work of a noun, adjective, or adverb. A noun clause is a subordinate clause that acts like a noun. In the sentence "Moby wanted to try what Tim was eating," the clause "what Tim was eating" is doing the work of a noun. An image shows Moby watching Tim eat a slice of pizza. The sentence that Tim describes appears. TIM: See? You could replace the clause with a noun like "pizza," or a pronoun like "it." The sentence "Moby wanted to try what Tim was eating." is changed to "Moby wanted to try pizza." and "Moby wanted to try it." TIM: Adjective clauses do the work of adjectives. An image shows Moby drooling on a slice of pizza. The sentence "The food that the robot drooled on looked tasty." appears. TIM: Just like an adjective, the clause "that the robot drooled on" modifies a noun, in this case, "food." Text in the sentence is highlighted as Tim explains. TIM: Clauses that tell you "when," "where," "how," or "why" another clause happens are called adverb clauses. An image appears of Moby doing dishes. The sentence "After Tim was done eating, he made Moby wash the dishes." appears above it, TIM: "After Tim was done eating" tells you when Moby washed the dishes. So that clause is acting like an adverb. The school bell rings. TIM: Yes! Lunchtime! Tim gets his lunchbox and sets it on his desk. When he opens it, he sees that it is filled with glowing blue objects. TIM: What the what? TIM: Moby filled my lunchbox with energon cubes, so there was no room for my sandwich. The sentence "Moby filled my lunchbox with energon cubes, so there was no room for my sandwich." appears, and the two clauses are highlighted. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP English Transcripts